The Guild of Food Writers Awards

Posted by Maddalena Delli Jun 14, 2008

The British professional association of food writers and broadcaster announced the winners of their 2008 annual awards for outstanding achievement in food writing.

The Guild of Food Writers is the professional association of British food writers, broadcasters, columnists and journalists. It was established in 1984 and has over 370 members.

Every year they present their coveted awards for outstanding achievement in several fields of food writing.

This year, in addition to the existing eight awards, three new categories have been added for New Media, Restaurant Reviewer and Broadcast Programme.

Unfortunately there's no Culinary Travel writing category (maybe next year?), but you still may want to check these authors/titles for some fine food writing.

So, here's a list of the 11 winners for 2008:

• Derek Cooper Award for Campaigning and Investigative Food Writing: Hattie Ellis, Planet Chicken: The Shameful Story of the Bird on Your Plate, Hodder & Stoughton
• Michael Smith Award for Work on British Food: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Nick Fisher, The River Cottage Fish Book, Bloomsbury Publishing
• Jeremy Round Award for the Best First Book: Marwood Yeatman, The Last Food of England, Ebury Press
• Food Book of the Year: Martin Jones, Feast: Why Humans Share Food, Oxford University Press
• Cookery Book of the Year: Sarah Raven, Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook, Bloomsbury Publishing
• Food Journalist of the Year: Bee Wilson, for work in The Sunday Telegraph’s Stella magazine
• Evelyn Rose Award for Cookery Journalist of the Year: Shona Crawford Poole, for work in Country Living magazine
• Restaurant Reviewer of the Year: Tracey Macleod, for reviews in The Independent magazine
• Miriam Polunin Award for Work on Healthy Eating: Jill Dupleix, Lighten Up: A New Healthier Way to Cook, Quadrille
• New Media Award: www.bbc.co.uk/food
• Food Broadcast Award: The Food Programme: China Tea, BBC Radio 4

Finally, a special Lifetime Achievement Award went to Katie Stewart of BBC Homes and Antiques Magazine.